Improvement in thrashing-machines



No. 45,683. PATENTED DBG. 27, 1864. G. WESTINGHOUSE D L. SMITH.

THRESHING MACHINE.

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GEORGE WESTIGHOUSE, or soHENEo'rAnY, Asi.) LORENZO Snrrii; or SHARON SPRINGS, Assicsoas To GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE,y oe Senn.

NECTA DY, NEW YORK.

lIMPROVEMENT lN THRASHlNG-MACHINES.

`qplwiticatiou forming1 part ol' Letters Patent No. 45,683, dated December 27, 1864.

To Jl whom it may concern,.-

e it known that we, GEORGE WEsTiNG- HOUSE, of Schenectady, in the county of -Schenectady and State of New York, and LORENZO SMITH, ot" Sharon Springs, in the county ot Schoharie and State of New York, have invented anew and Improved Thra-shing- Machine; and we. do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact. description thereof, which wilt enable those. skilled in the arty to make and use the same, reference being had to the aceompan-ying,` drawings, forming' part ot'` this speciiication, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal central section of our invention; Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section ot' a portion ot' the same, taken in the line .r .22, Fig. 1 Fig. 3, a horizontal section ot' a portion ot' the same, taken in liuc y y, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspending,r parts.

This invention relates, tirst, to an improvement in the discharging device of the machine for carrying the straw o ver the riddle ai'ter the former has passed between the thrashing-cylinder and concave. The object ot' this part, o f the invention is to cause a thorough separation to be made ot the thrashed grain from the straw by regulating the passage ,ot' the straw over the riddle so as not to admit of its being discharged too quickly over the latter and before the grain is separa-ted from it, and at the same time insure its passing along sntliciently quick to prevent the thrashing-cylinder be- Cnning clogged or choked.

The invention relates, second, to a novel and improved manner ot' hanging the grain receptacle or carrier, whereby the same is made to operate more etiiciently than hitherto.

'lhe invention relates,third, to an improvement in the construction ot' a wooden shaker, whereby the Ijournals of the same are protected from wear.

"he invention relates, tourth, to the combination and arrangement otthe several parts, as herein shown and described, whereby the operation Ot'thrashing' the grain i'rom the-straw and the separation ot' the t'ormer from the latter iset'ected in an expeditions and perfect lllallllef.

A represents a caso or box in which the working parts ot' the 'machine are placed.

Bis a.thrasl1ing-cylimler, which is placed in the upper part ot' the. case or box and may be constructed in the usual or any proper way, and U is a toothed concave, which is placed underneath the cylinder B, the teeth ot' the cylinder working;` between the teeth ot' the concave, or the concave may be placed above the cylinder, as itsometimes is.

l) represents a screen, which is slightly concave and adjoins the toothed concaveU. This screen is composed ot a series ot' parallel tlatl metal bars, a., fitted transversely in the case A, andedgewise with a slightlyinclined posi` tion, as shown clearly in Fig. l, thenpper edges of the bars a inclining,` toward the discharge end of thc machine. E is an apron which covers the space between the screen l) and the riddle F. The riddle F is of wood, and is perforated with holes b, etJ Suitable size and atJ a proper distance aparta, said riddle being suspended within thecase A by four rods, c, two at each side near its ends, and having a slightlyinclined position from a horizontal plane, its outer end being rather more elevated than its `Inner. end. 4This riddle has a reciprocating motion imparted Ato it `by means of a connecting-rod, G, and a crank, H, on a shaft. l, at the front end ot' the case A.

J is a shaker composed of a shaft, d, the journals e e of which are iitted in the sides ot' the riddle F, the shaft; d being provided with teeth f. One of the journals e of the shaft d projects through theside of the case A and is iitted in the lower end of an army K, the up- 'per end of which is pivoted to the case. This arm causes, as the riddle F works, a rocking motion to be given the. shaft 11, and the teeth fto rise and fall to act upon the straw. This shaker, however, so t'ar as its operation is concerned, is the same as usual. The journals e c ot' the shaft d are covered with metal, tubes g being fitted on them. This metal covering prevents the journals o e from being worn, a i contingency which occurs in ashort time '.vi h t a wooden shaft, and the latter are more desirag ble than metal ones, being lighter and more easily made and repaired than metal ones, the

only objection hitherto. existing against them being the Wear of the journals, which my invention fully obviates.

In. the upper part of the case A, directly over the riddle F, there is placed a rotary feeder, L, which is composed of a shaft, h, having blades or wings i projecting tangentially from it with pinsj in their edges. This feeder rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow, and it serves to feed the straw along over the riddle F at a certain requisite speed, preventing it fromv moving too fast or too slow, insuring all the loose grain being separated from the straw, and at the' same time preventingthe thrashing-cylinder becoming choked or clogged by a sluggish movement 'of the straw, and it also serves to a certain extent as a shaker to separate the loose grain from the straw. The grain is thrashed between the cylinder B and concave C, and the principal'part of the loose grain passes through the screen D, a

small portion only passing with the straw upon the riddle F. The screen D is well calculated to e'ect this result, as the narrow edges 'of the bar a of the screen do not ai'ord much chance for the grain to pass over them. In consequence of a small portion of the loose grain passingl with the straw on the riddle F the grain will be thoroughly separated from the straw before the latter is discharged from the end of the riddle.

We would remark that We do not confine ourselves to the precise construction of the feeder L, as herein described, for that may be vaiied in different ways and the same end obtainedfor instance, a toothed cylinder may be used, but the first described we think would be equal, it' not preferable, to any other mode ofconstruction neither do weswish it understood that wc confine ourselves-to the use of the feed er L exclusively when the concave Gis placed beneath the cylinder B, but it may also be used with advantage when the concave C is placed above the. cylinder B.

Directly below the riddle F there is a grain-- receptacle or graincarrier,-M, constructed with adouble inclined bottom k k. (See Fig. 1.) This receptacle or carrier receives the grain from the screen D and riddle F, and it is suspended within the case A by rods l Z two at each side, the rods l l being near the front and the others Ll being near the rear or discharge end ot' the machine. The rods l l are not parallel with each other, but have .nearly or quite opposite positions, relatively with each other, as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

'The receptacle or carrier has a dischargev opening,r or space, m, at its center, and a reciprocating movement is communicated to it by means of a rod, N, from a crank, O. on shaft I, the c'ranlr O having an opposite position to the crank H, so that the riddle F and receptacle or 4carrier M will move simultaneously in opposite directions'. In conse-y quence of having the rods l l placed in opposition relatively with each other a very important result is obtained, for each inclined part k k of the carrier-bottom is made as it moves toward the center of the case A to have an upward movement to throw the grain' toward the discharge opening vor'space m, While. said parts during their opposite movement descend and have. no tendency to throw the grain backward. This will be fully understood by referring to the rods l l in Fig. 1, the arrow 1 showing the discharging movement of vtha/bottom k andthe arrow 2 showing the backward.or non-discharging movement of bottom k', the latter movement of lc being ofl course simultaneous with the discharging movement of k The-case' A below the carrier M contains a blast-fami?, and a screen, Q, placed in a slice, R, which,being arranged in the ordinary way, do not require a special description.

AWe claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The rotary feeder L, in combination with the riddle F and shaker J, arranged and op-V erating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The grainreceptacle o'r grain-carrier M, hungor suspended, as shown and described,

in combination with the riddle F, thrashing- 

